Category — Concerts

Coldplay is sponsoring a contest where you can enter for a chance to open select dates on their upcoming tour.  Yes, you would be the opening act for Coldplay if you won.

The contest is only for select cities, these being the bands Chicago, San Jose, DC, Boston and Hartford dates. Whether or not you are a single songwriter or a full band, you are eligible. The way it works is that, you must submit a YouTube video of yourself to the radio station-sponsored section of coldplayontour.com.

Winners will be selected and notified and will also join the likes of the other opening acts on the tour Shearwater and Santogold. Even if you or your band aren’t fans of Coldplay (I, myself am not), it’s a chance for amazing exposure.

System of a Down offshoot band Scars on Broadway are preparing to launch their first US headlining tour. The tour is to support the groups self-titled album, which will be released through Interscope Records on July 29th.

The band also has a new music video for their hit single “They Say” which was directed by Paul Minor (Muse, Queens of The Stone Age).

While I’m not a huge fan of either Serj Tankian’s solo material or Scars on Broadway, it can’t be denied that John Dolmayan is a monster drummer. His work in System of a Down shows more of his skill with his huge drum kits and wide array of cymbals as opposed to what I’ve heard so far from Scars on Broadway. I’m curious to see what kind of drumming he displays on Scars on Broadway’s debut album.

Check out tour cities, a clip from Scars on Broadway’s “They Say” video and more information here…

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There are now a ton of annual American music festivals. One you may have never heard of though is Chicago’s Wicker Park Fest.

I’m mentioning it here because there are going to be some great bands, with great drummers playing this year…including Isis, Red Sparowes, Russian Circles and many more. *(Don’t mind the “2007″ in the pic above).

This year the fest takes place on July 26th and 27th. Get this, not only does the festival have some pretty cool bands but the entrance fee is a $5 donation! (Proceeds benefit the Wicker Park & Bucktown Chamber of Commerce. For more info, go to www.wickerparkbucktown.com)

Check out the full lineup and more info here.

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Seattle drone-rockers Earth at The Echo. To start off, I was pretty surprised to learn the show would be going on at The Echo and not a larger venue. Earth is one of those bands where you know they’re critically acclaimed, but you have no idea how big they really are. The band slowly took the stage, lead-man Dylan Carlson thanked the crowd and began.

The band’s set mainly consisted of songs from their recently released Southern Lord album “The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull” although not played in exact album running order. Highlights included “The Driver” and Rise To Glory” both of which showed how much the band’s sound has progressed from distorted drone metal to their current style.

The band’s chemistry on this night was evident. Band leader Dylan Carlson’s Telecaster was clean, crisp and piercing, laced with different kinds of delay, flange and various other effects. The guitar playing worked in tandem with Don Mcgreevy’s bass playing and Steve Moore’s keyboard, filling in any empty spaces. The results of which were beautiful soundscapes and dreamy passages. However, the real pulse of the band live was drummer Adrienne Davies. It appeared as if someone had put her into slow motion, as she drummed away on each song, keeping the beat of the song with her body. Her drumming definitely brought the whole experience together.

Opening band Jesse Sykes and The Sweet Hereafter were a great support choice. Sykes lyrics and singing were folky and trippy at the same time, and her band’s gentle twang perfectly set the stage for Earth to take the stage. I’d advise anyone who can to check out this tour.

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Russian Circles again. The bouncers/door people at the Troubadour were less than friendly, but thats to be expected from a meat-head door staff at a nightclub. Anyway, I arrived late to the show, just before Russian Circles were about to play, so I missed Young Widows and Daughters, who I had seen once before and didn’t really care for.

Russian Circles tore through newer songs from the “Station” album and selections from their first full-length “Enter” as well. My favorite track on the new album is definitely “Youngblood” and I was really glad to hear them play it last night. The band nailed it flawlessly with that precise and heavy guitar riffing, the whole way through. Other highlights were “Carpe” which was great as well.

What’s really amazing is how good Dave Turncrantz is on drums. I’ve complimented his drumming before but last night I got to see him from the side, and I was watching him the most out of all the band members. His kit was a basic 4-piece setup with 2 crash cymbals, a ride and hi-hat. His drum kit was setup on the floor with no drum riser of any kind. I unfortunately didn’t get to see what kind of kit he was playing, as the place was pretty packed and I couldn’t get any other angles. But I have a feeling it was a Gretsch (as pictured above).

However, what I did get to see was his use of creative fills and great sense of rhythm. It’s kind of obvious to mention, but the band would be nothing without this guy’s drumming. He propels the song’s into other passages with ease and does a lot of nasty, complicated fills usually culminating in the climax of the song. He also has a great sense of pushing and pulling the song, which is almost jazz-like.

I’m glad to see that an instrumental band that writes complicated material, can pack out a place like The Troubadour. If Russian Circles are coming through your area, you really should check them out.

This is not a Metallica blog. Just had to put that disclaimer out there, as I’ve been doing a lot of Metallica related posts, just because they are in the press so much lately. The band plays the Bonnaroo Festival today in Manchester,TN where they will probably “kill the festival” (according to esquire magazine).

Last night though, the band (with honorary 5th member - Lar’s Ulrich’s crappy sounding Tama Drum kit), played a surprise 175-capacity club show for fan club members and club employees.

The band played 9 songs as a warm up for tonights headlining show in front of an estimated 130,000 people, which will also be broadcast on the Fuse TV channel.

More info and video footage of the band’s small warm-up show can be found over at Billboard…

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If you can make it, this should be amazing, you can catch Jason Bonham playing his awesome Ludwig Kit up-close and personal.

Harmony-Central.com reports…

“Fresh from playing in the Led Zeppelin reunion tour Jason Bonham today confirmed he will officially open The London International Music Show next week. The son of drumming legend John Bonham will cut the red ribbon and welcome crowds next Thursday 12 June at 10am at ExCeL London.

Europe’s largest drumming festival, Drummer Live, is part of the overall music show and has a truly world class line up of drummers to play the show.” Line-up is now as follows:

Drummer Live Stage (Saturday & Sunday):

Saturday 14th June

• 11.15 George Barnett (Young Drummer of the Year) (mikedolbear.com)
• 11.30 Ray Luzier (Korn & Jonathon Davis)
• 12.45 Derico Watson (Victor Wooten Band)
• 14.00 Trevor Lawrence (Snoop Dogg, Independent)
• 15.15 Jojo Mayer (NERVE)
• 16.30 Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)

Sunday 15th June

11.30 Josh Devine (Mapex Drummer of Tomorrow)
• 11.45 Roy Mayorga (Stone Sour)
• 13.00 Pete Ray Biggin (Mark Ronson)
• 14.15 Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree)
• 15.45 Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin & Foreigner)

Modern Drummer Festival Weekend 2008

Produced since 1987 by Modern Drummer magazine, the world’s most widely-read drumming publication, the two-day Festival presents a roster of today’s top drumming talents, representing a variety of popular musical styles. Some offer solo “clinic” performances; others appear “in concert” with additional musicians. All share their talents in an educational and entertaining format that has made the MD Festival a must-see event for drummers around the world.

Dates: Saturday, September 20 and Sunday, September 21, in the Concert Hall on the State University of New York at Purchase campus. See Map

Times: Doors Open 12:30 p.m. Show begins 1:00 p.m. and concludes approximately 7:30 p.m.

The Modern Drummer Festival is a great opportunity to see some of the greatest drummers around in an intimate setting. A lot of the drummers that regularly play the festival are world-class, stadium headlining drummers who will perform and show off a lot of the chops they otherwise don’t get to on their regular gigs. This is also a chance for fans to see, in detail, the drum kits, configurations and other gear these players use.

Click here for a list of the drummers appearing at this years edition.

Punk-pioneers the Sex Pistols will be putting out a live DVD on June 30th. There’ll Always Be an England, is “a concert film lifted from several performances the perpetually reunited band put on last November at London’s Brixton Academy.”

“In addition to 16 tracks culled from the gigs, Always will include nearly 100 minutes of extra junk, including the Pistols’ guide to London, archival footage, interviews, and the like.”

While a lot of drum magazines/websites don’t usually cite Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols as an influence or give him much attention, his 4 on the floor driving style and compressed drum sound have influenced a ton of drummers. I am not sure what kind of drum kit he currently plays though as pictures of him and his drum kits are few and far between. I have seen various pictures of him playing Tama drums more recently, although I have seen pictures from the 70’s of him playing other kits such as Slingerland and Ludwig.

The DVD should be really interesting and a great way to check out Paul Cook’s playing and kit, even though it’s not 1977 anymore, although he’s probably gotten better over the years…one would hope.

-Sex Pistols Tour Dates-

06-07 Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
06-11 Birmingham, England - Academy
06-13 Nickelsdorf, Austria - Nova Rock Festival
06-14 Newport, Isle of Wight, England - Isle of Wight Festival
06-20 Venice, Italy - Heineken Jammin’ Festival
06-23 St. Petersburg, Russia - Jubeleyny Arena
06-25 Moscow, Russia - SSA Luzhnik
06-27 Borlänge, Sweden - Peace & Love Festival
07-04 Piest’any, Slovakia - Hodokvas Festival
07-05 Gdynia, Poland - Heineken Open’er Festival
07-06 Bobital, France - Bobital Festival
07-11 Turin, Italy - Traffic Festival
07-13 Novi Sad, Serbia - Exit Festival
07-18 Madrid, Spain - Summercase Festival
07-19 Barcelona, Spain - Summercase Festival
07-31 Paredes de Coura, Portugal - Paredes de Coura Festival
08-02 Lokeren, Belgium - Lokerse Festival
08-03 Loch Lamond, Scotland - Live at Loch Lamond
08-09 Tokyo, Japan - Summer Sonic Festival
08-10 Osaka, Japan - Summer Sonic Festival
08-15 Budapest, Hungary - Sziget Festival
08-16 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands - Lowlands Festival
08-20 Riga, Latvia - Riga Arena
08-22 Tallinn, Estonia - Saku Suurhall
08-23 Helsinki, Finland - Ice Hall
08-31 Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic Festival

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Drone-metal band OM have released a new live album via Southern Lord Records entitled “Om - Live at Jerusalem.” The album is limited to 3,000 copies pressed on 180 gram black vinyl.

The band had made the trek to Jerusalem in December of 2007, at that time, still with original drummer Chris Haikus, not current OM drummer Emil Amos. On the night this live album was recorded the band played for over 4 hours!

The live album includes essential OM tracks “Flight of The Eagle” and “Bhima’s Theme.” Bob Weston of Shellac fame handled the vinyl mastering process in the United States. The record is available through Southern Lord.